1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a mobile terminal, and in particular, to a method of easily inputting icons that represent emotions (emoticons) of a user.
2. Description of the Related Art
In addition to telephone calls, a mobile terminal can provide a variety of additional functions such as an SMS (Short Message Service). The SMS enables short text messages to be exchanged between terminals (or computers) regardless of whether the terminal of the other party is busy or not. The relatively high cost of voice calls makes the SMS cost-effective enough to substitute for the voice calls. A user inputs a text message using the keys of the keypad on the terminal and transmits it via the SMS.
The SMS, however, limits a Korean text message to 40 characters, as well as limits the text message in other languages. Moreover only a few specific small keys are used to input the text message. Therefore, great amounts of time and effort are needed to input even a short message and often the short message becomes an abbreviation of what a user intends to express in the first place.
In an attempt to solve this problem, a mobile terminal may provide a variety of special characters along with the standard characters and digits. The characters and digits would vary with the programmed language, e.g., Korean, English, etc. FIG. 1 illustrates input modes supported by the conventional mobile terminal. As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile terminal displays available characters/digits in each input mode.
The illustrated mobile terminal of FIG. 1 also has a shortcoming in that a user must input a special character in a very complicated procedure (i.e., mode conversion, entry of an intended special character, input of key [CONFIRM], and etc.). Therefore, the conventional mobile terminal has limitations in the input of characters or symbols which can readily represent the emotions of a user in the form of an icon.